How to wipe out data on a USB drive that is faulty

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ToZr Posts 1 Registration date Saturday September 10, 2022 Status Member Last seen September 10, 2022 - Updated on Sep 10, 2022 at 06:56 AM
 Alexjames1 - Oct 13, 2022 at 05:09 AM

Hello!

I bought 3 USB flash drives with 256 GB capacity in 2 different stores in the same city named Murska Sobota, in country Slovenia, during different periods of time. The USB drives were: Hama 256 GB and later I bought a USB key named just Müller 256 GB, both bought in a store named Müller and then I also bought Xplore 256 GB in a store named Big Bang. All USB drives had pretty much the same problems. They all stopped working after a short time, after I copied some data on them. The stores and/or their factories at least steal money, but very likely also steal data, because they know people have personal data on their faulty USB drives. Most customers won't return USB drives, because they are afraid their data will be stolen. The store/factory at least steals money. Then, if the customer returns the USB drive, they also steal the customer's data.
Problem is, the USB drives won't allow me to access the data, so I can't format the drive, I can't wipe out data and I can't copy or delete data, but the data is still there. I checked the data being there with many programs and computers in both Linux and Windows. I also tried to format, delete, copy and wipe out data in both Linux and Windows. I don't have access to it. Many times I get input/output errors, which errors I think are hardware built by the factory, which they can probably bypass with some of their own hardware. Somebody in a store or factory, who produced those faulty USB drives probably has physical access to data. It needs to be said that I have more than 20 USB drives, also Hama 32 GB and Xplore 128 GB, which two USB drives work and many others work for very long. So the problems are always with these 256 GB ones. I assume also that store Müller renamed the old Hama 256 GB into Müller 256 GB, to continue to sell these faulty USB drives, since even in Wikipedia they mentioned scandal around Hama company: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hama_(company). Even the employee in Müller store told me I should look for different and better USB drives in exchange for mine when I tried to buy the more expensive 256 GB one, so everybody knows that the management is pulling a scam, but I needed 256 GB, so I bought it.
My question is, how to wipe out data on a USB drive, so not even recovery program can recover it, so then I can return the USB drive and get my money back? I don't care, if I have to electrocute it with electricity, as long as it stays visually intact, since these companies/stores/factories obviously also sell only visually good, but faulty scammy things.


Linux / Firefox 104.0

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3 responses

Irina2207 Posts 46 Registration date Friday January 21, 2022 Status Member Last seen June 26, 2023 33
Oct 13, 2022 at 03:11 AM

Hi,

Yes i totally understand that In today’s digitally empowered world, safeguarding one’s privacy and confidential data is of utmost importance, especially when the data protection laws are not stringent and filled with loopholes in most nations.

Yes defintely deleted data can be easily recovered from any storage media, whether a USB thumb drive, HDD, SSD, SD card, etc., using data recovery software and services. Therefore, you must permanently erase the files/folders to protect and safeguard your data against unwarranted data misuse.

For this you can use Bitraser File eraser .

This powerful data erasure tool is capable of the following.

  • Erasure of system activity traces and installed application traces
  • Complete erasure of internet activities and cookies ensuring 100% privacy against online threats
  • Supports erasure of deleted data to secure the system and optimize storage space
  • Option to create an erasure list facilitating multiple file erasure in a single step.
  • Search files with file name or extension.
  • Schedule automatic erasing of files at specified intervals.
  • Option to add important files to Ignore list, thus safeguarding them against erasure process.

Drawbacks

  • Free version is not available
  • Requires more time for recovery with a high-standard algorithm.

I hope you got your answer

1
nathanwirth Posts 324 Registration date Thursday May 22, 2014 Status Member Last seen September 27, 2022 28
Sep 27, 2022 at 12:27 PM

Hi, 

As you said, you want to wipe the USB drive so that no data recovery software can recover anything. Then I would like to suggest one software named Bitraser File Eraser; this software is designed to erase files from hard drives beyond the scope of recovery. Just download this software and wipe your USB drive safely.


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hi. Go to Find > Applications > Utilities and launch Disk Utility. 3. Click to select the USB flash drive in the left panel. Click the Erase tab

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